Southeast Asian nations have overcome days of deadlock after the Philippines dropped a request for their joint statement to mention a landmark legal ruling on the South China Sea, after objections from Cambodia.

China publicly thanked Cambodia for supporting its stance on maritime disputes, a position which threw the regional block's weekend meeting in the Laos capital of Vientiane into disarray.

Competing claims with China in the vital shipping lane are among the most contentious issues for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Meanwhile, The U.S. called for “candour and openness” ahead of NSA-level talks with China in Beijing, the first such high-level political dialogue since an international tribunal rejected Beijing’s expansive claims over the strategic South China Sea.